This invention relates generally to manual bottle opening devices and more specifically to a bottle opener that also holds a lighter and clips to a belt.
For many years, beverage consumers, bartenders, grocers, and others involved with bottled beverages have used openers to remove the caps from bottles. Beverages and other liquids can be served from a tap but that requires a fixed facility such as a bar. Consumers though often seek portable beverages such as those now in cans and bottles. Cans have integral openers in the top. However, bottles usually have a cap.
Generally bottles are made of one material and the cap of another. Bottles have a material that is usually translucent and often transparent. The material resists degradation by the acids in a beverage and allows inspection of the beverage by the bottler and the consumer. Soda, or pop, bottles are generally plastic, polyethylene terephthalate, PET, with a plastic screw on cap. The screw on cap resists the pressure from the carbonated beverage therein and can be replaced on the bottle.
Bottles for alcoholic beverages are generally glass, brown for beer, green for wine, and clear for spirits. The glass resists the alcohol created during fermentation and aging of the beverage in storage. The glass also is inert and does not influence the flavoring of the beverage. As glass is brittle, glass does not work well as a cap. The bottling industry uses metal caps to close and to secure the tops of bottles. Generally a bottle has a neck with a round top with a rounded edge. A metal cap, starting as a disc, is placed upon the top of the neck and then crimped around the edge. Though some caps may twist off a bottle, metal caps sometimes jam upon the top.
Those people who drink and serve bottled beverages require a means to remove caps. Though some bold persons remove caps with their teeth, others use suitable tools. A common tool is a two point lever. The lever has one point placed upon the center of the cap and the other point placed below the lip of the cap. Lifting the lever raises the lip as the lever turns upon the fulcrum of the first point. In lifting the lip, the cap is deformed and expanded so it can be removed from a bottle top. These levers are pocket size, made of plastic with one metal point, and emblazoned with logos or advertising.
Another common tool is a wrench, often called a “church key.” The wrench has a handle with a head upon one end. The head is open and has a straight edge opposite the handle. Inside of the straight edge, the head has a tooth at the end of the handle. In use, the tooth is placed beneath the lip of the cap and the straight edge is placed across the cap. Lifting the handle away from the bottle raises the lip, deforms the cap, and allows access to the contents of the bottle.
Both of these tools now exist in many varieties. Some hold keys or fobs, and other also work as lights. However, few hold lighters and fit upon a belt.